Locations Filter

About Locations

Locations is one of the three primary filters in your Jostle platform. System Admins can use them to represent the physical locations of their organization. Each user can be assigned to multiple official Locations, and this can be done via:

• A user's Profile card in People (Profile card > Edit > Locations)
• The Create a New User/Edit User pages in Admin Settings > User Accounts and Data
• The Extract/Manage All User Data page in Admin Settings > User Data To/From Other Systems

Two additional methods, bulk uploading and user-controlled updating, are explained below.

TIPS

Locations are optional. If you have none defined, this filter will not appear in the platform. 

You can also automate the process of maintaining your Locations by using SFTP to connect with other systems. See this article for more details.

Locations (the filter) can be renamed by System Admins at Admin Settings > Filters and Badges > Configure Locations (see more below, under "Exporting/Importing/Renaming of Locations").

NOTE—modified names cannot be translated into other languages. 

Table of contents:

1. Managing Locations
2. Optimizing the Location filter hierarchy
3. Assigning Locations via bulk uploading
4. Allowing users to update their own Location
5. Other Locations

1. Managing Locations

Creating a Location

Locations are managed by System Administrators at Administration settings > Filters and badges > Configure Locations.

If you have an existing hierarchy that you’d like to add a new Location to, navigate to that level and click on the three-dot Action Menu. From there select Add New Location.

Once selected, the New Location form will open and pre-fill the levels accordingly in the Hierarchical Grouping section.

Otherwise, To add a new Location, click the "+"

On the New Location page, enter a Name. This should be the common name that people use for that location. Something like “London campus”, “Georgia Street Office”, or “Building 3”

Fill in any of the optional information, such as: 

External ID

The External ID field is used to assign an arbitrary identifier that may be helpful in syncing with external software and systems.

Description

The Description field is useful to provide additional context about the Location. For instance, if you have multiple offices, it may be helpful to add the civic or mailing address. A Location’s description will also be displayed in Profiles next to the Locations assigned to the person.

The “JostlePlex” Location (1), displaying the address as the description (2).

If your new Location doesn't require hierarchy, click "Save" in the top corner. If hierarchy is helpful, proceed to the Hierarchical Grouping section.

Optionally creating a filter hierarchy

In the Hierarchical Grouping section, start typing in the "Level 1" field to select an existing value or create a new one by typing and selecting "Create a new Location: '[your Location name]'."

Repeat the process for "Level 2" and "Level 3" if needed to create the full hierarchy. You can also select "Skip this Level" for any level you don't want to assign.

Click "Save" to create the new Location filter.

Locations are managed by System Administrators at Administration settings > Filters and badges > Configure Locations. 

Exporting/Importing/Renaming Locations

Click the three dots next to the "+" on your Locations list to open the action menu. From here you can choose to export or import your Locations data or edit your Locations filter name.

Export all Locations to CSV

Select this to download your current Locations data. 

This would be helpful if, for example, you wanted to make bulk edits to all your Locations via CSV (for example, to create a consistent hierarchy of Country, State, and City), and then import the CSV back to apply your updates. 

Import all Locations from CSV

Select this to import your updated CSV. On the Import Locations screen, check off your desired options, click Choose file to locate your CSV, and then Upload.

Edit Locations filter name

Select this if you want to change the name of the Locations filter and repurpose it for something other than locations.

TIP

If you haven't added any Locations data to your platform at all, you can use the blank CSV template found at the bottom of this page to enter your data upload it in bulk. However, this is not advisable for uploading new Locations if you already have existing Locations data entered in your platform, as you run the risk of accidentally removing those Locations if you don't check the proper settings before uploading or don't include them in your CSV (along with any new Locations you're adding). Better to use the Export Locations link and just add your new Locations to that CSV, and then re-import it.

2. Optimizing the Location filter hierarchy

It is recommended that you take some time to get familiar with this setup so you can get your Location filter optimized for easy use. You'll be able to see the hierarchy created by the filter once you set it up if you go to People and click the Filter icon at the top of the screen:

And then expand the Locations field:

Note that you can partially collapse the structure and produce a flatter hierarchy by reducing the levels of hierarchy. This helps provide a cleaner look if, for example, instead of using all three levels for Canada, British Columbia, Vancouver (pictured above), you can combine BC and Vancouver into one level: 

And the fewer levels you use to define your Location, the flatter your list will be.

Reordering or moving Locations within a hierarchy

To move a Location to another level, find the Location you’d like to move and click “Edit” on the Action menu (three dots).

Select the corresponding level to move the Location to, and select a new value, e.g. if I want to move JostlePlex from Canada to Europe, I would select Level 2, then select Europe.

Note the levels available are filtered based on the Level selected above. If you don’t see the value you’re looking for, you may need to move up a level and change it accordingly. For example, in the screenshot above, you may want to set Level 2 to “Australia”, but that is a Partner Office, so first you will need to update Level 1.  “Skip this Level” is also a valid selection and sometimes it needs to be chosen to correctly filter options below.

Renaming a level

To rename an existing level, click the three-dot Action menu on that level and select Rename.

A dialog will appear, allowing you to change the existing name. Once you’ve changed the name, click Save.